February, a month where I didn't accomplish much

Usually I manage to make good progress against my monthly goals, but it just wasn't meant to be in February. Between getting sick on a business trip, and then being sick for an additional week, taking the kids skiing, & then coming back to work craziness... well, it was one of those months!

But, on to the recap of my goals for February:

1) Financial

• Stick to the budget - shockingly, we were under our budget for all major categories (dining out, groceries, gas, etc). Woohoo!
• Finalize house payoff model - we've made some progress, but this will be a continual work in progress. 
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis - I've decided to do our taxes, which will save us about $700-750 this year
• Discuss 3, 5 & 10 year financial plan options - we have a few plans in place, including what I've described as "worst case scenario". The rest will be finalized as my job plans (or lack thereof) firm up. 
• Finish our taxes - 95% of the way there. I'll use the weekend to really finish. 

2) Family - spend more time together

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids - we went skiing together!
• Be more present with the kids & M. Play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. - we had a great ski vacation, but still struggle in the evenings. Nick & I also briefly went for a run together, so we had that as well. 
• Have two dates with M - no, and this was a major failure that we need to resolve. We need time together!

3) Fitness/health

• Run 8 times - with being sick, I managed only 3 runs. 
• Track calories & eat five servings of fruit & vegetables/day - I was at 4.4
• 28 workouts - I managed 17/28 workouts. 
• 8 meditations - and, completed 5/8 meditations

4) Work/career - improve my work life balance

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress until I leave- eh, I did okay with this. Mostly because I had a vacation in there. 
• Finalize sabbatical time off plans - I finalized dates for a Hawaii trip, which means I'll now be able to make progress. 
• Meditate, workout, journal in 5 minute blocks as time permits. Shooting for six each. - I did okay with this, and both meditated & wrote in my journal, tried to have walking meetings, but the weather wasn't great for that. 

5) Personal/creative

• Do something social at least once per month - nope. Had lunch plans with a friend, but had to push it out to March. 
• Volunteer 1x/month - nope. 
• Finish organizing all print & digital photos - ha. Nope. Didn't even really touch this one. 
• Write/journal 8 times - Yes! I journaled 9 times. 
• Read one non-fiction book - I'm halfway through with "Daring Greatly", which I've enjoyed. 

And, that's it from my side. What about you? How did you do with your February goals? 

And then it was Sunday

After a really nice break, I'm not feeling ready to go back to work tomorrow. But, it's that time anyway!

I got quite a few things done on my to do list, but ended up waiting on cleaning the house. Nick was making macarons, and if you've ever seen an 11 year old in the kitchen, you'll understand why I waited to clean the house.

1. Go for a run. Seriously, must start my 1/2 marathon training plan
2. Do a strength workout of some sort, or maybe pilates
3. Make banana bread 
4. Vacuum
5. Clean the kitchen
6. Have the kids clean the bathrooms
7. Clean & hopefully get Nick's bike sold - finally!
8. Package all eBay sales
9. Get the kids rolling on homework & assignments for next week. 
10. Spend time helping Sam with his planner
11. Birthday thank you notes written
12. Make pork carnitas
13. Return a gift that we don't need
14. Laundry
15. Pack up all ski clothes & put away
16. Journal
17. Meditate

Here's my list for today, with some carryover items.

1. Go for another run
2. Strength training or pilates
3. Vacuum
4. Clean the kitchen
5. Kids clean the bathrooms
6. Package another eBay sale
7. Help Sam get organized with his planner
8. Journal
9. Meditate
10. Laundry
11. Organize work calendar for next week
12. Have the boys call my parents
13. Research bullet journaling
14. Pack clothes for tomorrow's workout
15. Make dinner - Asian cabbage stir fry

I can't believe that February is almost over. It wasn't a productive month for me, at all. Being sick and traveling for work were a terrible combination. But, with my work travel over, I'm hoping March will be better! What are your plans for today? 

Saturday plans

It looks like it's going to be a lovely day at our house, and I'd like to make it as productive as possible. Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish today:

1. Go for a run. Seriously, must start my 1/2 marathon training plan
2. Do a strength workout of some sort, or maybe pilates
3. Make banana bread 
4. Vacuum
5. Clean the kitchen
6. Have the kids clean the bathrooms
7. Clean & hopefully get Nick's bike sold - finally!
8. Package all eBay sales
9. Get the kids rolling on homework & assignments for next week. 
10. Spend time helping Sam with his planner
11. Birthday thank you notes written
12. Make pork carnitas
13. Return a gift that we don't need
14. Laundry
15. Pack up all ski clothes & put away
16. Journal
17. Meditate

I think that will do. If that all gets done, I'd like to read my book for a bit! It's been a while.  What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish today?

Menu plan + freezer clean out

I've mentioned that we are dealing with new food allergies/avoidances at our house lately, which is really impacting our ability to meal plan, cook one meal for everyone, & eat down the freezer. I'm going to be a bit more targeted this week, as we desperately need to work down our freezer stash. At this point, it would be difficult to fit else anything into either of our freezers!

Here's the menu plan for the week (or so) ahead:

• Friday - chicken sandwiches + smoothies
• Saturday - turkey, stuffing & gravy (freezer). Prep ahead slow cooker pork carnitas. 
• Sunday - Asian cabbage stir fry
• Monday - I'll turn the turkey leftovers into Thanksgiving leftovers in a crescent roll
• Tuesday - Pork carnitas. Rice or tortillas for those who can eat it
• Wednesday - leftover Asian cabbage stir fry
• Thursday - Eat any remaining leftovers
• Friday - Spaghetti & meatballs (zoodles for some)

Things this will use from the freezer:

• A few pieces of chicken
• Turkey, stuffing & gravy
• Tortillas
• Meatballs

That's it from our side. If anyone has any dairy free keto recipes to recommend, I'd appreciate it!

A gorgeous ski break

Skiing is never cheap, but we finally hit upon a stretch of days where the weather cooperated! The kids are out of school this week for "ski week", so we headed to Heavenly (Lake Tahoe) on Sunday, and stayed through Thursday. The weather was fantastic, and we skied Monday-Wednesday.

The kids LOVE skiing, and are trying to convince us to do another day before the season ends. We'll see if we can make it happen. On a clear day, you can see Lake Tahoe from the runs. It's perfection. Photo below that M took while skiing. I'm not nearly good enough to manage the camera on the slopes.

I skied much harder than normal, mostly because the kids wanted to be on the part of the resort that didn't have any beginner runs. So, it was all intermediate/advanced for me. I'm a barely intermediate skier, so I'm exhausted! The boys legs never seem to get tired. :-)

Although skiing is super expensive, we did have a few frugal wins:

• We received 1/2 off our first night's stay, as the refrigerator wasn't working. We had the use of a refrigerator in another room, which was pretty inconvenient, but saved $150. 
• I packed lunches for the 2nd & 3rd day. We didn't pack the first day, and regretted it with the crazy high food costs in the lodge. I had a smushed PB&J two days in a row, but way cheaper & all you really need is fuel to keep you going.
• We bought our ski passes online ahead of time, to save a bit
• We considered putting the kids in sports camp this week, vs taking the time off. Sports camp for the two of them would have been about $800. Our trip cost more than that, but we used vacation time vs needing a camp.
• I picked up snacks at Rite Aid using rewards, for no out of pocket cost.
• I brought a bottle of wine with us, which we enjoyed after we got back to the room. 
• We ate lunch at Costco on our way home today, while we filled up on gas. 

Any frugal wins for you? Do you ski? I love it, & wish it wasn't so expensive & wasn't such a long drive. Otherwise, we'd go much more often.

Frugal Friday

It was another week. :-) I'm still getting over being sick, so I've been pretty low energy & struggling to get things done.

• Used a gift card to offset the majority of a massage. And, one of my gift cards I've been tracking for a few years is finally spent. It was originally a thank you from work.
• Followed up (for at least the fifth time) on a missing $100 travel credit, & finally got it!
• Emailed Starbucks about my birthday reward. I was out running errands, & decided to use my birthday reward for a free lunch. Except, the app wasn't working. And, the fingerprint sign in wasn't working, so I wasn't able to use my free birthday reward, or even pay with my Starbucks credit. I paid out of pocket & was super annoyed. I would have just skipped it, but they had already started heating my sandwich. Anyway, Starbucks added the amount I spent as a credit to my account, so it was a wash. 
• I chased United on my $200 credit from the issue on my flight a couple of weeks ago (they claimed they sent the credit that day, but didn't). I received a follow up call & email, so I now have the credit. 
• The kid are having a shared, at home birthday party today (their request). I did need to order Magic cards, but they are having a Magic "draft" with friends. I will make frozen pizza (again, their request ;-)), & will serve with other 13 year old boy snacks that we would never normally buy. I'm picking up the rest of the snacks today with a gift card that we have for the local grocery store.

Any frugal wins for you this week?

Menu Plan Monday

We went out to eat on Friday & Saturday (unusual for us), so we don't have as many leftovers for the week ahead.

Here's the plan:
Monday - tacos (freezer)
Tuesday - leftover kebabs & rice
Wednesday - tacos
Thursday - chili (freezer)
Friday - homemade pizza

What about you? What's on your menu plan for the week? Anyone trying new recipes? 

Work travel complete + a few frugal things

I didn't spend any money last week (the beauty of traveling for work), but it was a challenging trip. I got sick on Saturday (on the flight) with the flu, which made it the most unpleasant flight I've ever had. I was sick in London all week, but pretty much rallied to attend the majority of my work events. I skipped a few late night meetings, and ended one day early, but I'm happy I was able to complete all of my tasks while I was there.

I'm really, really hoping this is the last work trip until my sabbatical. *fingers crossed*

M & the boys don't appeared to have spent much either last week, so let's recap a few frugal wins.

• No meals out. Well, I had all meals out, but none that I paid for myself
• My entertainment unit was broken on my return flight, so I spent 11 hours without any entertainment, & United said they would give me a $200 credit. The credit was nice, but. .. it was a dang long flight
• I used a gift card to take Nick to lunch today after soccer. It's so nice to be home & spend time with the boys! I rarely do Mom/son dates, but decided it would be fun today.
• I also bought Uber gift cards (I'm out of credit after all of my work traveling), which yielded a Rite Aid reward. I used the reward for Valentine's Day cards.
• I stocked up on the kids favorite pizza (Digiornos) on a buy 2/get 1 free sale at Rite Aid. We'll use this for their birthday party.
• I used Target gift cards to pick up a gift for Sam's birthday, and for a party Nick is attending.
• I noticed that I was $23 away from earning a $20 gas card at Rite Aid. I normally don't try to chase those, but all of the cold medicine I bought myself had counted, so for $23 of additional spending on things we'll use anyway (mouth wash, body wash, etc), I earned a $20 gas card
• I bought $300 of Home Depot gift cards at our local grocery store, & earned a $30 store gift card. 
• I picked up the Friday Freebie at our local store - hummus

Although we're not big into birthday gifts or events, M went to my favorite cupcake shop & picked up treats for the weekend. YUM! Can't wait. I'm also getting a massage tomorrow for my birthday, but have a gift card that should offset most of the cost.

Hope you are all having a lovely & frugal weekend!

February Goals

It's the shortest month of the year, so while I want to be get a lot done, I also try to be realistic. Let's see how I do. :-)

1) Financial

• Stick to the budget
• Finalize house payoff model
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis
• Discuss 3, 5 & 10 year financial plan options 
• Finish our taxes

2) Family - spend more time together

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids
• Be more present with the kids & M. Play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc.
• Have two dates with M

3) Fitness/health

• Run 8 times
• Track calories & eat five servings of fruit & vegetables/day
• 28 workouts
• 8 meditations

4) Work/career - improve my work life balance

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress until I leave
• Finalize sabbatical time off plans
• Meditate, workout, journal in 5 minute blocks as time permits. Shooting for six each.

5) Personal/creative

• Do something social at least once per month
• Volunteer 1x/month
• Finish organizing all print & digital photos
• Write/journal 8 times
• Read one non-fiction book

That's it for me. What about you? What are your goals for February?

London Bound

I fly to London this evening, so it will be a busy day before I leave. I want to set clear goals for myself this time, as that really helped for my Tokyo trip. Accomplishing personal goals on a work trip makes me feel less like my "real life" is on pause. I do, however, have to stay in the office until 8 pm on Monday. My manager asked me to do that about 12 hours after we had a full team meeting about better supporting work life balance. . . I'm not sure she saw the irony.

Here are my goals for today, as well as for the trip.

Before I leave today:

1. Work out
2. Take Nick to soccer
3. Pick up M after he drops the car off. Getting it repaired after the accident. We've had three quotes that the insurance company bickered over. What.a.hassle.
4. Finish packing
5. Clean the house
6. Get cash for our nanny
7. Finalize plans for next week for the kids
8. Laundry
9. Make a Costco list

If I get all of that done, I'll be in good shape. And, goals for my work trip.

• Journal 4x
• Delete 500 more photos
• Finish a non-fiction book. I'm starting "Daring Greatly".
• Work out every day
• Meditate 2x.
• Fasting each morning, & no dairy
• Calories at 1400 (this is so hard when traveling, time zone changes, airport food, etc) + healthy amount of fruit & vegetables
• Get as much sleep as possible

I'm off to kick start my day! What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish today?

January Goals - How Did We Do?

It was a month of many things. We flew back from Portland on January first, squeezed in a ski trip before school started, got caught in a snowstorm in Lake Tahoe, I went to Tokyo, then LA, we tried to ski again & got rained out. Our pool pump broke & almost caused a fire in the house. M has been on a new "diet" to deal with truly terrible allergies & hives as a result. The new diet means multiple meals each day & has slowed down any freezer or pantry challenges, as well as just finding cooking challenging in general these days.

I set really aggressive goals for myself in January, so here's how I did!


1) Financial:

• Stick to the budget - Eh, no. We were over on dining out (M brought the wrong gift card to one dinner) & then way over on groceries. M had to start doing a keto diet due to allergies, so we had to buy a tremendous amount of different things for that. Our utilities were higher than expected as well. 
• Update our "pay off our house model" once our bonus & equity clears & we see how much we can pay off from that. - M hasn't put his equity in, and has a specific price he wants out of his stock before that happens. I have updated without that, but want to do more thinking about our next steps, and my job. 
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis. - I decided I'll get back into doing our taxes this year, which should save us around $600. In previous years, we were dealing with rental income or the sale of our rental house. This year is quite a bit easier. 
• Make $300 in side hustle money - I made just $50, mostly because I couldn't list eBay items due to my travel schedule (don't want to be trying to manage sales, postage, etc while out of the country). 
• Track all unplanned money, and divert to saving goals - Yes, and it was $740! We put it towards the boys college accounts. 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Go skiing with the kids - Yes, we had two ski days.
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc.. I need to do better with this. I've been back on the computer working in the evenings, & want to change that.  
• Have two dates with M - We had one semi date, where the kids were both gone for a few hours. 

3) Fitness/health - lose 15 pounds 

• Eat 5 servings of fruit & vegetables/day - I was at 3.93. I do not do well when I'm in Tokyo, & need to figure out how to do better in London. 
• Run 8 times
• 31 workouts  - I managed 28/31 workouts. Considering my work travel schedule, I'm pretty happy with this. 
• 1450 or less average daily calories - 1468, and I didn't lose any weight. I'll likely have to drop this next  month if I want to see progress. 
• Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio - 975/1000. So close! 
• Complete 12 strength workouts. -  7/12
• Complete 9 stretching workouts. - 3/9 
• Complete 10 meditations - 5/10. I'm not sure why this goal is listed in two places, & with two numbers to boot. ;-) 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Work from home 2x - yes, done. 
• Meditate 12 times at work - 4/12 times. I was traveling a lot, which made this tricky. 
• Work out 6 times at lunch (this can be a casual walk or something else to break up my day) - 3/6.
• Finalize sabbatical date, and dates for trips I'll take during my sabbatical - Date is finalized, & I have a list of trips, but no dates. 
• Stop using electronics by 7:30 each evening - this was mostly a fail. I need to turn this into family or reading time. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• One social thing (lunch with a friend, hike, etc) - I had lunch with one acquaintance & one person I'd never met before, so considering this a win. 
• Volunteer one time - I haven't found a good, flexible volunteer opportunity. I did find something in March, but need to keep looking for something that I can do "on demand", when my schedule allows. 
• Write/journal at least 4x, or for a total of 3 hours - I journaled 7 times. I've been saying that I want to start writing again for awhile, so it was good to see progress. 
• Brainstorm ideas for homemade Christmas project - I have a few ideas in the hopper. 
• Work on photo books. Decide on tool, start uploading photos & begin with 2018 photo book. - I deleted a few thousand digital photos, went through a huge stack of physical photos, & I'd call that work more of the decluttering & organization required to move on to actually dealing with my photo books. 
• Read one non-fiction book, from the giant pile! - Yes, done! I read a book called "Oola", which I enjoyed & need to think more about. It's about creating balance in your life. 

It's quite a mixed bag. Although I didn't fully accomplish everything, I actually feel like I made a lot of progress towards goals. What about you? How did you do with your January goals? 

Frugal Friday

It's finally Friday! We do many of the same things each week, so a quick recap of those: line dry the majority of our clothes, keep the thermostat turned down to 67/65, eating leftovers for dinners, driving our electric car to work & charging for free. . .

And, a few highlights from this week:

• I made a last minute meal change to accommodate all of our eating requirements (special allergy diet, etc) & bought a few ingredients at our local grocery store. It's much more expensive than Costco, for example, so I converted points to a $2 reward, bringing the price for: 1 lb of ground beef, a bag of coleslaw mix & a head of cauliflower down to a more manageable price. I normally pick up cauliflower at the local produce stand, but there quality can be a bit hit or miss, and this was to make cauliflower rice, so I wanted it to be super fresh. 
• Nick made hummus this weekend, which is a very inexpensive alternative to store bought. And, is so much tastier! We had all of the ingredients on hand.
• M continues to do our own repair work around the house, including yet another pool repair. The pool was not in good shape when we bought the house, and one problem has led to another, and another, and. . . 
• M also washed the cars this weekend
• We did eat out once, but used a gift card
• I tracked down missing miles from a work trip

That's it for us... What about you? What were your frugal wins this week?